Ground Work

I try to make sure I ride or work with WallE 3 to 5 times each week. Today as I taught lessons he spent the majority of the time looking over the fence and watching us. So after dinner, even though I was very tired, I made my way back to the barn with intentions of riding. I arrived at the barn around 7:15pm and knew that if I rode, it would be dark soon and I would be untacking and cooling him off without light. So, I decided to do some ground work. 

WallE is my only horse to come to me fully trained (to walk, trot, canter) and mostly desensitized. Yes, sometimes he will spook at something out side the arena or pull back from the tie, but for the most part he was very calm and well trained before getting to me. Therefore I have not felt the need or necessity to do lots of ground work with him in the past. However recently (within the past month) I have been working with him and a giant soccer ball. I run through the Parelli games and then ask him to follow me over to the soccer ball where we roll it around, bounce it off of him and ask him to stand quietly. For the most part, he has done great - no problem. 

Today, I decided to turn him loose in the arena and begin with a combination of free lunge, join up and water hole rituals. Normally these activities take place and are most successful in a smaller space, such as a round pen. I do not have a round pen and have found that the large arena is fine, you (the human) just have to be willing to run a bit and take a little longer. 

I think WallE likes me and is naturally inquisitive, so when I turned him loose and asked him to move forward to the left he obliged without too much hesitation.  We tracked to the left for about ten minutes. He stopped once to investigate the soccer ball. This was exciting, since previously he would not go near it, but it was not what I was asking so I had to remind him to move along. He began to circle closer to me instead of staying on the rail, dropping his head and blowing through his nose a bit. So I asked him to walk and then sat on the mounting block. 

It took about five minutes of him staring at me, then walking towards me and stopping, but he did eventually come over to me where he received lots of praise and ear scratches (his favorite). I asked him to follow me and when he would not, I told him to track to the right. Tracking to the right was a bit harder. I had to do quite a bit of running as he wanted to trot across the diagonal and change direction, but in the end it was worth it. I sat down, he came in to see me and followed me when I asked him to walk. We ventured over to the soccer ball together and after a moment, he let me pick it up, bounce it off of him and throw it over him (all without moving). What a horse. 

As I continue my equestrian journey, I find I often discount the positive effects of groundwork with your horse. There is a bond developed and questions that are asked, that are different from what we ask on the horse's back. Though we did not practice our leg yields or haunches in this evening, we did work...at least I did.